Fetch A Shockland: Part 1 - A Journey Into Extended

Hello, new and returning readers and welcome to my newest series: Fetch A Shockland. This series will chronicle my journeys into learning more about Extended as a format, and becoming more skilled in playing it. This first post will be all about the introduction: where I am now, and where I intend to go.

I know a bit about Extended already. I know the major players in the format and I keep a casual view of the metagame. So here's my current, immature analysis of the metagame:

The major players are Zoo, Faeries, Next Level Blue, Hypergenesis, and recently Dark Depths. Various Rock decks including Death Cloud also exist in some capacity. Dredge is a rogue deck that comes and goes in cycles. Everyone forgets about it, and it strikes. Everyone boards in hate, and it dies. People stop boarding in hate, and forget about it. It strikes again.

The deck I intend to begin with is Zoo. It's the only really Tier 1 aggressive deck, but comes in a few flavours. Here are the decks I considered:

Rubin Zoo

Pros:

•  Has controllish elements in Baneslayer and Punishing Fire / Grove of the Burnwillows.
• Good lategame: something many Zoo decks lack.

Cons:

• Noble Hierarch is a bad topdeck.
• Has to play 24 lands, thus has more chance of flood.
• A lot of people will be playing it, since it won PT: Austin.

Spectral Zoo:

Pros:

• Has random tech against Hexmage Depths
• Has Jitte, which Rubin Zoo couldn't fit in.

Cons:

• Sideboard seems weird.
• Spectral Procession puts a lot of strain on the manabase.

Landfall Zoo:

Pros:

• Abuses the HELL out of landfall. I mean, seriously.
• Has very aggressive starts.
• Has better Knights than other Zoo builds.

Cons:

• Can attack from less angles.
• Hasn't got much of a late-game.
• Can't really defend with it's landfall guys.

Hyper Aggressive Zoo:

Pros:

• 16 1-drops.
• Fastest Zoo deck ever.

Cons:

• Runs out of gas too quickly.
• NO lategame.
• Sweeper = you lose.

I decided to go with a process of elimination. I figured Hyper Aggressive Zoo simply wouldn't cut it in the mirror, so that was out. I also want a deck to start that will teach me a lot about the format, and mindless attacking won't do it. That ends the chances of Landfall Zoo.

I really like Rubin Zoo, but I also like the Jitte. However, in the end, I'm a sucker for an aggro deck that can control the game (that's why I play Jund) and the Grove / Punishing Fire combo simply suckered me in, so I decided to choose Rubin Zoo.

Here's the decklist I will be using, copied almost card for card from Brian Kibler's deck:

Lands (24)

4 Arid Mesa

2 Ghost Quarter

4 Grove of the Burnwillows

1 Marsh Flats

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Sacred Foundry

2 Stomping Ground

1 Temple Garden

2 Treetop Village

Creatures (21)

3 Baneslayer Angel

4 Knight of the Reliquary

3 Noble Hierarch

3 Qasali Pridemage

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Wild Nacatl

Spells (15)

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Lightning Helix

4 Path to Exile

4 Punishing Fire

Sideboard (15)

3 Ancient Grudge

3 Blood Moon

3 Celestial Purge

2 Ghost Quarter

1 Kataki, War's Wage

3 Tormod's Crypt

The only change I made (and the changes that rippled from that) was removing the Meddling Mages. I don't have enough of a handle on the format to name the right card. Because of that, I removed the Hallowed Fountain from the sideboard, and due to that was able to cut a Marsh Flats for a second Ghost Quarter (against the mirror). To make up for the missing slots, I added Tormod's Crypt as an anti-Dredge mechanism and Celestial Purge against Dark Depths.

I'm concerned about my ability to beat Hypergenesis now, so the next thing to do was to look at the match reports for an idea on how Zoo can combat the deck. I don't know too much about how it works, either.

After a read up on Kibler's beating Hypergenesis, I find that Hierarch into Blood Moon is a strong move, and Ghost Quarter is very good. (So it's good against Hypergenesis, Dark Depths AND Rubin Zoo? Why am I not playing FOUR!?)

And so this is the deck I've decided to play. I'll be playing some matchups over the next week, and that, as well as the lessons I learn about the format, will be featured next week!

Play Along At Home:

This is the Play Along At Home portion of the post. If you want to learn more about Extended yourself, you can follow along with my journey and do what I intend to do in order to improve our knowledge of the format.

Homework: Play 10 matches of Rubin Zoo (either through real-life, proxies, MODO or MWS, I'm really not picky).

Look up some articles on the current metagame and Rubin Zoo.

See you next week with Fetch A Shockland: Part 2!

How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ - Part 1

Hello and welcome to my series of How To Do Better At Your Next PTQ. Each week for 6 weeks, I'll be taking a point from the list of 10 Ways To Do Better At Your Next PTQ and expanding on it, and going into much further detail. I shall release this series biweekly, and over the next three weeks will cover the following parts:

Part 1 - Testing Your Deck

Part 2 - Analysing the Metagame

Part 3 - Bringing Two Different Decks

Part 4 - Sideboarding for the Event Metagame

Part 5 - DCI Penalties

Part 6 - Understanding Tiebreakers

Not all the points on the list are worthy of a part in the series. However, now that you know what's in store, let's move on!

Part 1 - Testing Your Deck

Practice, practice, practice is the mantra of athletes, and for you it should be no different. You should know your deck inside and out. You should know why every card is in there, and how they interact. You should know how to fight all the common decks, how to sideboard against them, whether you are aggro or control, etc. But rather than tell you the different things you need to know, I'll give you a step-by-step guide.

Step 1 - Pick Your Deck (4 weeks before the PTQ)

Note: these durations are minimum. I suggest picking a stable deck: one that's been part of the metagame for a long time, e.g Faeries, Five-Color Control, especially if a new set is coming out in the next four weeks. Check out the decks that have been solidly winning for months or a year, and choose one you feel is powerful and you can play. It doesn't matter if Five-Color Control is best in the meta if you've played Faeries for 8 months. Your advantage will surpass meta choices unless Fae is absolutely hosed (which it has been, but not so badly it's unplayable).

However, if you're like me, and your deck of choice has been cut out of the meta (Kithkin) go through the decks and pick what you think is the strongest. Test each deck you think is good on Magic Workstation for 5-10 matches, and see which one works best for you.

Step 2 - Research (3.5 weeks before the PTQ)

The next step is to research your chosen deck. How to play it, how to board, how to fight different decks. The more you read up on it, the better. Read tournament reports where the reporter played that deck to get a feel for how these theories are put into practice. Read primers, strategy guides, testing reports, etc. Assimilate the Magic community's knowledge about the deck.

I will add, if you want to play GSS Jund, you've got a great head start:)

Step 3 - Test online (3 weeks before the PTQ)

Here, you'll want to use Magic Workstation again. What decks you play doesn't matter, as long as you play the Tier 1 decks. You want quantity here: A good total to shoot for is 30 matches in the week. You're in the early stages now where every match teaches you something new about the deck. Hopefully you're winning most of them. I mean, I'm 7-1 with Jund so far and I'm not exactly a great player. Good, but not great.

Once you've gotten about 30 matches under your belt, you're ready to test the specific metagame.

Step 4 - Test against a gauntlet (2 weeks before the PTQ)

Now you'll want to build a gauntlet, generally consisting of 3-4 decks that you're most likely to face at the PTQ. Testing the fringe strategies will dilute your testing against the decks you'll face 2, 3, or even 4 times during the PTQ and if you make Top 8, are almost certain to face. For the current metagame, your gauntlet would probably consist of Faeries, Five-Color Control, Jund and Elf Combo. You want to get in 10-12 matches against each deck throughout the week. Preferably you'll have offline testing partners who are also going through the gauntlet, whom you can test with. If not, keep testing online as much as you can.

Step 5 - Re-evaluate (Less than one week, more than three days before the PTQ)

Now your metagame data will be 2-3 weeks old, so it's time to recalibrate. You're probably still 90% on the money, but the 10% is crucial too. Is a certain deck you haven't tested against rising in supremacy? Keep an eye out for the latest tech. Make sure you're not caught off-guard in the PTQ.

Step 6 - Test the changes (3-4 days before the PTQ)

This is twofold: offline, test the gauntlet which includes any new decks that have risen up, and online test with the 75 you've now locked in. This is the final testing: aim to get in 10 offline matches and 10 online in the 3 days.

Then rest for the day before the PTQ, maybe play 1 or 2 matches online to keep your skill up, and get a good night's rest. More than likely, you'll have outprepared your opponents, and it'll show where it counts: on the battlefield.

Until next time, may a hundred matches teach you a hundred lessons to gain you a hundred advantages.